What this is about: Separating the anime wheat from the chaff! Reviewing every subtitled anime show from 2010 and 2011! For more information about me and my reviews, click here for details on what I am reviewing.

Series Premise: Tamayura: Hitotose is a 12-part anime televisions series between October and December 2011, a sequel to the 2010 4-part Tamayura OVA series. After the death of her father, Fu moves back to her hometown after several years away. Taking up her father’s hobby of photography, she works to shake off her shyness and make new friends.

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Very Quick Episode Summary: After the flashback introductory episode, the series moves forward to the present day, after Fu has moved to the new town and started to fit in with her new friends. Fu has a sleepover with her new friends. They do girlie stuff. Nothing of significance happens. The end.

My Impressions: One of the genres of anime is the notion of the Iyashikei, or “healing anime”, and Tamayura fits that category to a tee. It’s all about the ridiculously-shy Fu as she makes new friends and moves on with her life after the death of her father, all through the magic of taking really bad photographs with dust spots on the lenses.

It’s all light and heart-warming and inoffensively fuzzy-wuzzy and all that crap, which is fine and dandy. But it’s also incredibly boring.

I’ve been down this road before, having watched the original four-part Original Video Animation of Tamayura last year, and this second episode fits right into the mold that was set earlier perfectly. Tamayura is a whole lot like the much more popular K-On, as it features a clique of four girls who spend their days doing not much of anything of significance, where the journey of their life through their friendship is more important that the destination itself. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but it does make for an unexciting show.

The verdict:

Since I know where this show is going (as in NOWHERE), might as well cut it short at this point. I don’t fault anyone else for watching this show, but I see no reason to keep watching a show that I consider inconsequential and boring.

Also, I really don’t think I could take one more episode where one of the four major characters communicates primarily by whistling. Talk about one of the most annoying character traits ever!

“Tamayura is as gentle and pleasant as a morning breeze, and I do find the TV more engaging than the OVAs. But I confess, the whole affair is still a bit boring for me.” – Lost in America

“I’ll say it again…this show is so relaxing. The music’s always light and the mood is never too extreme.” – Marth’s Anime Blog

“From the sleepover, it seems that Fu has finally settled with her two new friends and childhood friend. Through her motivation to carry her father’s legacy on, she’ll improve and maybe surpass his skill. Even so, I look forward what lies ahead for these girls.” – Chikorita157

“Pretty slow paced, so if you don’t like episodes that kinda laze along, you may not like this series, but I think it’s a good pace for this show.” – Josh’s Anime Blog